Issue: Plugin runtime dependencies not properly staged after global npm install

Issue created for tracking - user reported plugin dependency issues with global npm installation

Summary

After installing OpenClaw via global npm (npm install -g openclaw), the openclaw doctor command reports many bundled plugins missing runtime dependencies, even though the dependencies are actually installed in the root node_modules directory.

Details

Expected Behavior

When running npm install -g openclaw, all bundled plugin runtime dependencies should be properly staged in their respective plugin directories (dist/extensions/*/node_modules/), or the openclaw doctor command should correctly detect that the dependencies are available from the root node_modules.

Actual Behavior

1. Global install completes successfully
2. Dependencies are installed to npm/node_modules/openclaw/node_modules/ (root level)
3. Individual plugin directories (dist/extensions/*/) do NOT have their own node_modules folders
4. openclaw doctor reports missing dependencies like:
   • @aws-sdk/client-s3 (used by tlon)
   • @azure/identity (used by msteams)
   • @opentelemetry/* packages (used by diagnostics-otel)
   • @twurple/* packages (used by twitch)
   • acpx, zca-js, and others

Root Cause Analysis

The issue stems from the different dependency staging mechanisms:

1. Build-time staging (scripts/stage-bundled-plugin-runtime-deps.mjs):

   • Only processes plugins with "openclaw": { "bundle": { "stageRuntimeDependencies": true } } in their package.json
   • Copies dependencies to dist/extensions/*/node_modules/

2. Postinstall script (scripts/postinstall-bundled-plugins.mjs):

   • Runs after global npm install
   • Installs all plugin dependencies to the root node_modules
   • Does NOT create node_modules in individual plugin directories
   • This is the expected behavior for source checkouts, but not for pre-built npm packages

3. Doctor check:

   • Looks for node_modules in each plugin directory
   • Fails for plugins that don't have the stageRuntimeDependencies flag

Plugins Affected

Based on the openclaw doctor output, these plugins are missing their runtime dependencies after global install:

Workaround

For users experiencing this issue:

1. Clone the OpenClaw repository
2. Run pnpm install and pnpm build to build with proper staging
3. Or use pnpm stage:bundled-plugin-runtime-deps after installation

Possible Solutions

1. Option A: Update postinstall-bundled-plugins.mjs to also run the staging script for non-source checkouts
2. Option B: Include stage-bundled-plugin-runtime-deps.mjs in the npm package and call it during postinstall
3. Option C: Update openclaw doctor to check root node_modules as a fallback for missing plugin-level dependencies
4. Option D: Add "stageRuntimeDependencies": true to more plugin package.json files

Environment

• OpenClaw version: 2026.4.14
• Install method: npm global (npm install -g openclaw)
• OS: Windows 11 Enterprise